Chapter Sixteen: Chen Kan's Sacrifice

Chen Kan's gaze drifted into the distance, looking out the cabin window as if he could see the streets of 1930, where they held up banners, her hand clasped in his. "Do you remember... our first speech together? You said... 'Chinese youth should not be slaves of a conquered nation'..."

"I remember! I remember!" Lin Tang sobbed uncontrollably.

Chen Kan sighed deeply, "Jintang, my ambition was to serve my country and save it. Although I took a long and wrong path, thankfully I died a worthy death in the end..."

He looked at Qiao Yuan.

Qiao Yuan clenched his fists beside him: "Bai Mu..." He called him by his old name, and the helplessness and guilt that he could not save him in the end overwhelmed him. Even a man with tears in his eyes could not help but shed them. "I'm sorry..."

Chen Kan looked at him, his eyes suddenly clearing like a candle burning its last flame: "You've wronged me... I've wronged you too, anyway, we're even. My deputy, Lao Zhou... at No. 12 Fuxing Lane... in the brickwork behind the wardrobe... there's an inventory of the armory..."

He coughed, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "Their intelligence must have been sent out... but if possible, we must blow it up before it's transported..."

Qiao Yuan was taken aback.

Chen Kan turned back to look at Lin Tang, his smile fading. "Tang... I'm leaving... You must... live well..."

His hand slid down her hair, his eyes slowly closed, and tears still clung to his eyelashes.

Lin Tang screamed and rushed over to hug him, her sobs sounding like she was being choked: "Amu! Wake up! We promised to go to Yan'an together! You promised me!"

Chen Mo and Xiao Douzi also boarded the boat and were saddened by the scene.

...

Chen Mo ordered the ship to set sail.

Once the boat reached the river, Qiao Yuan spoke first: "Captain Chen, let these Axe Gang members go first!"

Chen Mo nodded: "We have an undercover agent at the next post station. The Axe Gang brothers should go to Suzhou to lay low for a while and then reunite after things have calmed down."

Little Bean's ears immediately perked up like a startled rabbit's, and he rushed over to hug Qiao Yuan's waist: "Brother Qiao, I won't go first! I want to stay with you!"

Qiao Yuan squatted down, put his hands on his shoulders, and wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes with his fingertips. "Little Bean, the place Qi'ou is going to this time is ten times more dangerous than the dock. I can't let you take the risk." He took out a polished wooden plaque from his pocket. "This is what Zheng Hao gave me before he died. Now I'm giving it to you. When you grow up, if you miss us, just look at it."

Little Bean clutched the wooden sign, tears falling onto it: "Then...then you must come find me!" His voice was trembling with sobs, yet he stubbornly raised his chin, like a little wolf cub refusing to admit defeat.

Chen Mo walked over, reached out and ruffled his hair, "Silly boy, by the time you grow up, we'll have driven the Japanese away long ago. You should go to teachers' college and teach children to recite 'Hoeing the fields at noon,' instead of being like us, always carrying guns."

Little Bean looked up at him, tears still clinging to her eyelashes, but she still nodded: "Then...then you must come back alive!"

...

The oars moved faster, and the silhouette of the post station gradually emerged from the morning mist.

The Axe Gang members stepped onto the bluestone slabs of the dock, disembarking one by one. Some turned back to wave, some wiped their eyes, but their steps didn't falter. They all knew that this parting might be a final farewell.

Little Bean stood at the bow of the boat, waving his wooden sign and shouting, "Brother Qiao! Sister Lin! You must come back!" His voice was shattered by the river wind.

Qiao Yuan watched his figure grow smaller and smaller until it became a tiny black dot in the morning mist before turning his gaze away. Lin Tang remained squatting beside Chen Kan, wiping the blood from his face with a handkerchief.

Her movements were very gentle, as if she were wiping a fragile piece of porcelain. Her tears fell onto Chen Kan's hand, splashing up tiny droplets.

Qiao Yuan walked over and said softly, "Jintang, it's time to go."

Lin Tang looked up at Qiao Yuan: "Qiao Yuan, he used to say that after the victory of the War of Resistance, he would take us to Nanjing to see the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and to Shanghai to see the lights on the Bund."

Qiao Yuan silently squatted down and said, "After we blow up the armory, we'll go with him."

The river wind swept in, carrying fog, and made the curtains in the cabin rustle loudly.

Qiao Yuan stood up, picked up the gun at his feet, glanced at the river outside the window, picked up Chen Kan, walked step by step to the stern of the boat, and lifted the plank.

"Bai Mu," Qiao Yuan said softly, "we're going to blow up the armory. If you're watching over us from heaven, please bless us with success."

Qiao Yuan gazed at the river until the bunch of chrysanthemums disappeared into the morning mist, then turned to Lin Tang and said, "Let's go!"

Lin Tang rubbed her eyes, picked up the gun beside her, and said softly, "Mm."

The air in the cabin was somewhat heavy, but the morning mist outside the window had dissipated a bit, and the sun was rising higher and higher, making the river water shimmer with a golden-red light.

...

As evening approached, she indeed waited for Deputy Officer Zhou at the tea shop.

The moment the intelligence was sent out, the expected arrest did not occur. He had a premonition of this moment, and when he saw Lin Tang, his heart sank even further.

"Chen Kan sacrificed himself." Lin Tang's heart still trembled uncontrollably when she mentioned his name.

Lieutenant Zhou stared blankly at Lin Tang, the bloodshot in his eyes instantly fading, leaving only a deathly pale look.

"How could this be..." he muttered to himself, "I was originally a suicide squad member in this plan..."

Lin Tang said, "Chen Kan can't do that. He's always considered you a good brother and isn't willing to sacrifice his brothers and climb to the top by stepping on other people's blood..."

Upon hearing this, Lieutenant Zhou burst into tears.

"Lieutenant Zhou, your infiltration plan ends here. You're on your own now. Give me a copy of the arms intelligence Chen Kan asked you to send."

Lieutenant Zhou was taken aback, then said, "The intelligence has already been sent out, Madam, what are you doing...?"

"Have you received any instructions from the Kuomintang?"

Lieutenant Zhou hesitated and shook his head, "The Kuomintang has not given any instructions to take action yet, I'm afraid...!"

Lin Tang nodded, "Let me finish what Chen Kan didn't do! Give me the intelligence!" She spread her hands to Deputy Zhou.

He had anticipated this, so he took the intelligence out of his pocket and handed it to Lin Tang.

Lin Tang nodded: "Take care!"

"Take care of yourself!"

Lin Tang returned to the tailor shop.

The streets of Jiangcheng were cold, filled with a chilling atmosphere.

She stood at the street corner, and in her mind's eye, it was still the bustling scene of five or six years ago, lined with shops and cars. Now, all that remained were ruins and heavily armed Japanese sentries.

She tightened her coarse cloth clothes, stuffed the blood-stained intelligence into her inner pocket, and quickly turned into the alley behind the tailor shop.

Pushing open the creaking wooden door, Qiao Yuan was wiping his gun by the light of an oil lamp. Seeing her come in, he immediately stood up to greet her: "What did Lieutenant Zhou say?"

Qiao Yuan's fingers gripped the gun butt tightly, his knuckles turning white: "Chemical weapons... these beasts!"

The flame of the oil lamp flickered between the two men, reflecting the dense markings on the map and the increasingly intense determination burning in their eyes.

"us……"

The two men said in unison, "We must blow up the armory directly. We can't give them the chance to transport chemical weapons to the front lines!"

Chen Kan's death shocked the two of them greatly. Although they had finally reunited, if the country was on the verge of collapse, how could they possibly find peace no matter where they went?

...

Meanwhile, in the basement of Sato's mansion.

Cheng Qing lay on the hospital bed, her body wrapped in bandages that were seeping blood.

Sato sat beside her, holding a glass jar filled with a pale green liquid: "Sakura-chan, this is our latest 'regeneration medicine' from Japan, specially formulated to treat gunshot wounds. You're really lucky to have survived."

Cheng Qing slightly raised her body; the wound on her back was still throbbing, but the pain had subsided considerably.

She recalled the moment Wang Yuxian's knife pierced her body; she instinctively pulled out her gun and shot him in the head, then saw Sato's face before her consciousness faded.

She stared at the glass jar in Sato's hand, her voice filled with deep resentment: "Lin Tang... Qiao Yuan... I'll make them pay with their lives!"

Sato placed the glass jar on her bedside table and stood up: "Luckily, this time Wang Yuxian was there to take the fall for your failed mission. Otherwise, Ishimura would definitely have made you take the blame!"

Sato wiped his hands with a handkerchief and said, "This medicine will give you a rapid recovery effect, so you should rest here for a few more days. If I'm not mistaken, Qiao Yuan and Lin Tang will still be in Jiangcheng."

Cheng Qing stood up abruptly. "Aren't they leaving yet?"

Sato's smile held a hint of secrecy. "They pride themselves on being conscientious Chinese people; they certainly won't leave."

In Sato Wenwen's eyes, Cheng Qing saw a demonic totem.